Top 5 Golf Courses Near Lisbon

Portugal is a great choice for golf. It's close enough to get to easily and far enough to offer a very different feel to back home. On top of that, Lisbon is great for food and culture and has plenty of very good courses within easy reach. Luxury golf holidays near Portugal's capital "tick a lot of boxes!"

Here are five golf courses near Lisbon that you must sample while you're out there. You simply won't find a stronger concentration of quality anywhere else in the country.

5. Quinta do Peru

This is a fairly flat and generous course for the most part, punctuated with a couple of soft climbs and two long par 3's where you'd do well not to drop a shot. The real bonus about this course is its setting - in a pine forest of more than 300 acres and with the Arrabida Mountains as a back drop, this fine golf course in Portugal not only provides a great game but is a real pleasure for the eyes as well. It's one of the most exclusive in the area but we can book you a tee-time or two.

4. Penha Longa

The first thing that will strike you when walking around Penha Longa is that you've left in your camera in your room! The combination of waterfalls, ancient monuments and gorgeous countryside make playing this course a real treat - but don't let it distract you from the course, for this is Trent Jones at his most subtle. Well-protected greens and hilly terrain make club selection and playing with your brain vital. One of Europe's finest and past host to the Portuguese Open.

3. Praia d'El Rey Obidos

The par 72 Praia d'El Rey is a soft links course that offers a real taste of "the way golf should be played" without being overly difficult. It's also beautiful. Spread out amid pine trees, beachside dunes and inland water, it's very easy to find yourself distracted but stay focused, look at how the terrain is shaped and enjoy! Designed by the highly-regarded American architect Cabell B. Robinson, this golf course near Lisbon should definitely be on your list for a rewarding round of golf combined with Atlantic Ocean views.

2. Troia

This is a very fine test of golf and very difficult off the back tees. It's also extremely attractive with the trees, fairways and dunes mingling to perfection. Robert Trent Jones Senior designed one of his best courses here and he is deservedly proud of it. It's got his typical hallmarks: bold bunkers, raised greens and challenging doglegs but it's got that X Factor too. To get to the club, you need to take a short ferry crossing from Setubal to the Peninsula of Troia - it all adds to the magic of the day.

1. Oitavos

Regular host to the Portuguese Open, this course is a master class of how to mix bogey, par and birdie holes. You can attack, you have to defend and you have to think. Play Stableford or Matchplay and try to play the course twice as there are lots of surprises first time round. The wide fairways lead to narrow greens through dunes and umbrella pines so you can be relatively loose off the tee but then it's down to the serious stuff! Close to the Atlantic, there's definitely a links feel and the "design" clubhouse and delicious estate wines provide the perfect frame to a great day's golf.